LAST DASH FOR VOTES

As the tripartite elections are just three days away, leaders of the four leading parties are leaving nothing to chance and will spend the final hours of official campaign in their strongholds.

In line with the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Act, which says the official campaign must close 48 hours before voting starts, the Malawi Electoral Commission(MEC) said on Thursday that “we will observe a freeze on all campaigning from 6am on Sunday (tomorrow).”

This afternoon Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will be at Goliati in Thyolo, Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is at Nsalu in Lilongwe, Joyce Banda of the People’s Party is expected at Songani in Zomba while Atupele Muluzi of the United Democratic Party is at Ntaja in Machinga.

“He has to be there to keep his base alive,” said Mutharika’s running mate Saulos Chilima.

“It is important to be with your people at such an hour,” said MCP president Lazarus Chakwera.

“She has not been there for some time; she thought the people there deserved the honour to get the final rally,” said PP deputy spokesperson Ken Msonda talking of the President.

“He is also standing as parliamentary candidate there,” said UDF secretary general Kandi Padambo, referring to Muluzi.

Looking back at the electoral process, Chilima, speaking on behalf of the DPP, was pleased that his party managed to achieve “more than 95 percent” of its objectives, despite facing a number of challenges.

“My president and I agreed to split ourselves. This underlined the element of delegation that the new leadership of DPP is bringing to fore. It demonstrates the confidence and trust that exists among us, which will be replicated in our administration,” said Chilima.

The DPP, according to Chilima, is disappointed with the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) “for perpetuating bias against all opponents of the ruling party, including during the campaign period when the messages of the opposition parties were edited heavily.”

“That is why we want to ensure during our administration that MBC no longer serves the whims of a ruling party, but all tax-payers,” said Chilima.

According to the DPP running mate, his party is concerned about reports of MEC being infiltrated “at the junior level to facilitate rigging”, but found solace in the integrity of the MEC chairperson and his commissioners to deliver credible elections.

“There is always no smoke without fire. But we are persuaded by the integrity and credibility of Justice Maxon Mbendera’s leadership to believe we will have a free, fair, credible and transparent election,” said Chilima.

MCP presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera thanked all voters throughout the country for attending his party’s campaign meetings, including whistle-stop tours.

“We believe they took our messages which centred around one theme “One Malawi, One Nation, One Vision” seriously and that they will vote for Lazarus Chakwera for President of the Republic of Malawi and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) candidates for Members of Parliament and local government councillors,” said Chakwera.

He reminded all Malawians “that these elections are unique in that they will determine the kind of Malawi we want for the next years ahead after 50 years of independence.”

“ We are at crossroads. Malawi is at the brink of degeneration. Poverty is increasing by day, our economy remains ailing, our healthy delivery system itself is collapsing, the quality of our education is steadily going down and on the verge of becoming garbage, employment is hard to come by, our systems are falling apart. We must redeem our country. We must save it from going into the dungeon!” said Chakwera

The MCP presidential candidate said he is pleased to have conducted a successful campaign, getting to their targets in terms of reach and scope.

“By deed and persuasion we have very well demonstrated that our competitive edge is newness, honesty, maturity and integrity,” he boasted.

He regretted that during whistle stop tours he and other leaders of the party were not able to effectively interact with people due to time.

“Sometimes our schedules had to be changed abruptly to accommodate emerging issues. This meant some of the people who wanted to meet us did not. We thus regret this since Malawians are the reason the MCP exists,” he lamented.

On the performance of MEC, Chakwera said: “All in all we have trust and faith in MEC as the elections management body but once again let me appeal to MEC to ensure the elections are free and fair to all.”

From the perspective of PP, Msonda commended all stakeholders, including MEC, for ensuring the creation of conditions that enable the players, including his party, to do “fruitful campaigns”

“Although not everything has been 100 percent, but we are satisfied that MEC has tried to provide leadership that facilitated a process without many difficulties,” said Msonda.

He disclosed that his party is not worried with allegations of rigging “because no concrete information has been provided so far.”

“In any case, how can you expect rigging to take place where the Electoral Commission is composed of representatives of all political parties?” he wondered.

Msonda said his party was encouraged by turn-outs to the rallies addressed by the party’s leadership and its representatives, believing “we will win in the Tuesday elections.”

He commended President Banda, who is the party’s presidential candidate, for what he called “creating the right conditions through which a general peaceful campaign was held and opposition leaders were allowed on MBC.”

“We wish to commend the people of Malawi for conducting themselves peacefully during the electoral process so far. It is our hope that this will continue during polling and after the announcement of the results,” said Msonda.

Speaking on behalf of the UDF, Padambo said the process had gone generally well, except for the refusal by MEC to allow his party from “vetting and endorsing” the electoral register.

“We had asked MEC to allow the political parties to append their signatures to each and every page of the electoral register. They have not invited us to do so. And I have not heard from other parties that they have been allowed to so. This is disappointing,” lamented Padambo.

He also complained about the challenge of the party’s campaign material and bookings for venues being sabotaged.

“But all in all, we believe we have done everything there was to be done to secure a victory next week,” he said.